RT 



YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873, 



r>RY, 



WAR DEPARTMENT 



REPORT 



YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873. 



D. S. STANLEY, 

COLONEL TWENTY-SECOND INFANTRY, BVT. MAJ. GENERAL, V. S. A. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1874. 



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REPOET. 



Headquarters Yellowstone Expedition, 
Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dak., September 25, 1873. 

Sir: I have the honor to make the following brief report of the 
marches and service of the troops under my command upon the expedi- 
tion to the Yellowstone River during the past summer. The expedi- 
tion was organized by virtue of Special Orders No. 73, Department of 
Dakota, dated Saint Paul, Minn., April 13, 1873, and was designed for 
the protection of engineering surveyors of the Northern Pacific Pail- 
road. 

The composition of the force was as follows: 

Ten companies Seventh Cavalry; Lieut. Col. G. A. Custer, Seventh 
Cavalry, commanding. 

Ten companies Eighth and Ninth Infantry ; Lieut. Col. L. P. Bradley, 
Ninth Infantry, commanding. 

Three companies Seventeenth Infantry and one company Sixth In- 
fantry ; Maj. K. E. A. Crofton, Seventeenth Infantry, commanding. 

Five companies Twenty second Infantry; Capt. C. J.Dickey, Twenty - 
seccnd Infantry, commanding. 

Detachment of twenty-seven Indian scouts; Second Lieut. D. H. 
Brush, Seventeenth Infantry, commanding. 

One company Twenty-second Infantry (E) was organized as pioneers; 
two Artillery squads, manning two 3-inch Rodman guns, being selected 
from the same company. 

As a part of the military force, I was authorized to hire scouts, guides, 
and interpreters, and employed seven half-breeds in that capacity. The 
transportation, including every wheeled vehicle, amounted to 275 wag- 
ons and ambulances. The civilian employes numbered 353 men. The 
number of mules and horses to be foraged was 2,321. 

The expedition was ready and started on the 20th of June; the effect- 
ive force that morning being 79 officers and 1,451 men. 

Four days previous to the main column leaving Fort Pice, a detach- 
ment of four companies of the Eighth Infantry, a squad of one officer 
and 25 men Seventh Cavalry, and one company Sixth Infantry, from 
Fort Abraham Lincoln, had been directed to escort the engineering 
party from the crossing of the railroad on the Missouri River to such 
point as the main force might overtake them. 

One of the difficulties at the outset was to learn the probable rate of 
daily travel the engineers would accomplish to the Yellowstone. This 
was finally settled by the conclusion that GO days 1 rations and forage 
would be required, the latter being reduced to five pounds. The carry- 
ing of this amount of supplies, in addition to necessary camp-equipage, 
loaded our wagons unreasonably heavy; the lowest being 1,000 pounds 
to a wagon, while the strong teams were taxed with 5,280 pounds. 
With these heavy loads the necessity of returning a train to the Mis- 
souri Piver for supplies seemed apparent, as we could start with only 
12 days' forage, at five pounds. The expedition might still have gotten 



4 YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1373. 

along the march with reasonable speed, but for the setting in and con- 
tinuing of rains unprecedented in my experience in this climate. 

For the first seventeen days of our march it rained fourteen days, in 
some instances three or four heavy rain-falls in twenty-four hours. The 
consequence of this rain was that the usually hard prairie became a 
swamp, and the fifth day's march the entire day was spent making four 
miles on a level prairie, usually as good as a macadamized road. 

The route taken was due west from Fort Rice to the great bend of 
Heart Eiver, and owing to the heavy rains we were six days in making 
45 miles, and were then detained by high water at Heart River cross- 
ing one day. As soon as across Heart River, I sent my chief guide, Basil 
Clement, with one company of cavalry, to hunt up the engineering party ; 
the same day the squad of cavalry heretofore mentioned as forming part 
of the escort to the engineers arrived in camp, bringing dispatches from 
Mr. Rosser, chief engineer, and Maj. E. F. Townsend, Ninth Infantry, 
in command of the escort, informing me of having been overtaken by a 
most furious hail-storm two days previous, (the 24th,) in which men 
had barely escaped with their lives, and the animals stampeding on the 
march had broken up their wagons to such an extent as to completely 
cripple both engineers and escort. 

The command was put in motion the morning of the 27th ; the cavalry 
being sent light with the mechanic's outfit to join the engineers and 
repair damages. The cavalry reached the engineers by marching due 
north from the bend of Heart River, and crossing to the left bank of the 
Muddy the same evening. The heavy train, escorted by the infantry, 
labored painfully two days to reach the Muddy, and next day, the 29th 
of June, the usually little sluggish slough was converted by the rains 
into a river GO feet wide and probably 20 feet deep. 

Through the ingenuity of my chief commissary, Second Lieut. P. H. 
Ray, Eighth Infantry, pontons were immediately made by filling wagon- 
beds with empty water-kegs, confined by lashing, and inverting the 
beds, and a good bridge being formed, the command was passed over 
by the evening of the 1st of July. The time had now come when either 
one of two movements I had been instructed verbally by the depart- 
ment commander to make became possible from the lightening of our 
loads. One of these movements was to push a light force at once to the 
Yellowstone, the other to send back to Fort Rice for additional supplies. 
Both of these movements could not possibly be carried out atouce, the 
condition of the transportation beingso bad that success in both could not 
be expected if attempted simultaneously. From the outset the feasibil- 
ity of establishing a depot on the Yellowstone, to be supplied by steam- 
boat, had been doubtful; therefore, after due consideration, I sent forty- 
seven wagons back to bring up additional forage and rations. 

Although I had met the chief engineer of the survey while the com- 
mand was crossing the Muddy, he had said nothing about a change from 
the original plan of his survey ; and only on the 5th day of July, on 
which date 1 was first able to bring the infantry and train up to the 
engineers and cavalry escort, Mr. Rosser informed me he had changed 
his plans, and would connect his present work with the survey of 1871, 
and push on for the Yellowstone. On the 7th of July the command 
set out to march to the Yellowstone. The route followed was that of 
Major Whistler's march in the fall of 1871. We found the Little Mis- 
souri quite full ; it is a very difficult stream on account of its deep 
quicksands, and at first trial it appeared we would either have to 
bridge it eighty feet wide or wait for the waters to subside. This 
difficulty was thoroughly overcome by first putting in our large herd, 



YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873. 5 

700 head of beef-cattle, and afterward all the cavalry, driving and 
marching- back and forth until in one hour the sand became as firm as 
a Russ pavement. After getting out of the Bad Lands of the Little 
Missouri, I directed the guide to leave Whistler's trail to the right and 
strike the divide between Glendive's Creek and Cedar Creek. This 
route proved a success, and we arrived upon the Yellowstone the 13th 
of July. Lieut. Col. Custer, with two squadrons of cavalry, reached 
the mouth of Glendive's Creek by a very difficult bridle-road, finding 
the depot established at that point, and the steamboat Key West 
awaiting our arrival. Colonel Custer informed me by note next morn- 
ing of the impossibility of reaching the mouth of Glendive's Creek, 
and the unsuitableness of the site for a temporary post. I directed the 
transfer of the stores, and erected a strong bastioned stockade upon 
the south bank of the Yellowstone, eight miles by land above Glendive's 
Creek. 

Moving the stores and ferrying the troops and trains across the river 
occupied until the 26th of July. A garrison of one company of the Seven- 
teenth Infantry and two companies of the Seventh Cavalry was left at the 
stockade, and on the 26th the march up the left bank of the Yellowstone 
was commenced. As the engineers had a day's work to do on the op- 
posite bank of the river from the command, the Key West was detained 
one day, and ran up to the mouth of Cabin Creek with Major Crofton's 
battalion of the Seventeenth Infantry and Sixth Infantry as guard for 
the engineers. On the 28th we started to make the detour necessary 
to pass the Bad Lands, which run bluff upon the Yellowstone opposite the 
mouth of Powder River. This route carried us directly north, directly 
away from the Yellowstone about twenty miles. 

After four days' hard marching and a great deal of labor in road-mak- 
ing, we found ourselves back upon the river. Our chief difficulty was 
after having gotten the train upon the high plateau north of the mouth 
of Powder River, to find any place to get down the steep " bad-land" 
bluffs, which break down abruptly upon the valley of the Yellowstone. 
Fortunately, we found a creek, which I named Custer's Creek, by the 
bed of which the descent was possible. The distance through the Bad 
Lands was sixty lhiles. There is no permanent water for forty miles, 
and gras-; is very sparse. We found the steamboat Josephine eight 
miles above the mouth of Powder River, Capt. William Ludlow, of the 
engineers, having brought the boat up with a supply of forage and 
some necessary clothing. The same night we met the Josephine we had 
the first evidence of the presence of Indians, the camp-guard tiring on 
Indians during the night, and the trai of about ten being plainly seen 
going up the valley next morning. 

In marching up the Yellowstone, an escort of one company of infantry 
and one of cavalry took care of the surveying party, which aimed to 
follow the valley. The train had to make many detours, leaving the 
valley and crossing the plateaus when the river ran close to the bluffs. 
This, getting upon the high grounds, occurred thirteen times from 
Powder River to Pompey's Pillar, and generally the ascent and descent 
were very difficult. The lateral arrovas or gullies of the Yellowstone 
Valley, being cut down into a clay soil, require a great deal of digging 
to make them passable for a large train. On the 4th of August one of 
the detours from the river was made. We were then opposite the mouth 
of Tongue River. The day was excessively hot, and the march very 
long and tedious. I had sent Lieut. Col. Custer ahead to look up 
the road, a service for which he always volunteered. About 2 p. m. 
1 came up to one of my scouts, who told me there was firing ahead, but 



6 YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873. 

thought it was at buffaloes, as he had observed a trail of these animals 
goin g in that direction. Shortly two scouts and a cavalry straggler ran in 
and said they had been pursued by Indians. I sent all the cavalry to 
support Custer, but he had an hour before driven his opposers miles 
awav. Colonel Custer had gained eight or ten miles ahead of the train, 
and had unsaddled to graze his animals, when his pickets signaled six 
Indians approaching his position ; these were only in decoy, and when 
Colonel Custer, who followed their movements with a few officers, declined 
to follow them to the adjoining thicket of cotton wood 250 or 300 war- 
riors rode out, and immediately attacked Custer's troops. The squadron 
was about eighty strong; and as the Indians were much more numerous, 
Colonel Custer fought defensively and on foot, until finding the Indians 
had nothing new to develop, he mounted his squadron and charged, 
driving and dispersing the Indians in all directions. Six Indians were 
seen to go off toward the main column during the skirmish ; these six 
waylaid and killed Veterinary Surgeon Honsinger, Mr. Baliran, a trader, 
and a soldier of Company P, Seventh Cavalry, named Ball. The first 
two were unarmed non-combatants ; the soldier was surprised at a spring, 
and probably killed before he could make any defense. The bodies of 
the civilians were found unmutilated ; the soldier's remains were only 
found as we returned in September. On the 5th, 6th, and 7th, Indians 
on the bluffs continued to watch the column, but it was not until the 8th, 
and when about opposite the mouth of Rose Bud Biver, that we 
discovered that a very large Indian village was fleeing before us. Pur- 
suit was resolved upon, and at p. m. that night Lieut, Col. Custer 
left with all the cavalry and Indian scouts to try and overtake 
the village. The troops' carried seven days' short rations and 100 
rounds of ammunition per man. The trail was followed that night, 
a part of the 0th, and the succeeding night, when, upon the morning 
of the 10th, it was discovered that the Indians had crossed the Yellow- 
stone in skin-boats and rafts three miles below the mouth of the Big 
Horn Biver. Colonel Custer tried industriously all day the 10th to 
cross. The river was very deep and swift, and our American horses 
would not take it ; and although he got a picket-rope across, the least 
strain would part it. The Indians settled the matter by attacking him 
next morning at dawn, tiring across the river, at this point about 700 
feet wide. After firing across the river had become general, Custer 
found himself assailed from the bluffs 600 yards in his rear; pushing 
up a skirmish-line on foot in the latter direction, Colonel Custer formed 
each squadron into a separate column, and charged the Indians, driving 
them eight or ten miles from the held. The main column with the train 
came in sight of Colonel Custer's position at 7 a. m. Indians in very 
large groups had collected out of riHe-range on the high bluffs across 
the Yellowstone. I directed Lieutenant Webster, Twenty-second In- 
fantry, in command of the section of artillery, to shell these groups; he 
threw several shells, very well aimed, producing a wonderful scamper- 
ing out of sight. An hour afterward, a few more shells at a group of 
warriors caused the fastest kind of running. One officer was severely 
wounded, one private killed and two wounded, and, summing the two 
engagements, wo lost four killed and four wounded, and five horses 
killed. The Indians engaged in these affairs agaiust this expedition lost 
in killed and wounded, but I cannot pretend to say in what numbers, as 
I was not present on either occasion during the fighting. I would re- 
spectfully refer to the report of Lieut. CoL G. A. Custer, heretofore 
forwarded to department headquarters. Prom citizens' clothing, from 
coffee, sugar, and bacon dropped, from the shells of patent ainmuni- 



YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1373. 7 

tion found on the field, from two new Winchester rifles found on the first 
field, it is certainly true that these Indians were recipients of the bounty 
of the United States Government ; and as they were mostly Uucpapa 
Sioux, they had at no long time since come from that center of iniquity in 
Indian affairs, Fort Peck. Taking one day to provide for the wounded, 
we resumed the march, reaching Pompey's Pillar on the 15th of August. 
We remained one day at this, the limit of our march upon the Yellow- 
stone. Upon the morning of the 16th a ludicrous incident occurred, 
which might have had a tragic termination. The river was full of bath- 
ers, when six Indians rode out from behind cover on the opposite bank, 
and fired a volley into them. Of course, there was a scampering of 
naked men, none of whom, fortunately, were hit. On the 17th, 18th, 
and 19th we crossed the divide to the Muscleshell River. The march 
was 00 miles in a direction west of northwest. The second and third 
days' marches were made upon the trail made last year by Colonel Ba- 
ker. There are no springs on the divide, the grass is very poor, and 
but for a copious rain, which fell the evening of the 11th, we must have 
fared very badly. The night of the 19th I sent Reynolds and Norris, 
two daring scouts, to Fort Benton with dispatches. Mr. Frost, a young 
gentleman from Saint Louis, and two young Englishmen, Messrs. Clif- 
ford and Molesworth, who had accompanied the expedition for adven- 
ture, went through with the scouts. 

Fortunately, all arrived safely at the settlements. Setting out the 
morning of the 20th, we continued down the Muscleshell Paver 05 miles, 
mostly due west. Progress was slow, principally from the great amount 
of fallen timber we had to remove to make a wagon-road. The com- 
mand reached the Big Bend of Muscleshell, where this river turns a 
little west of north to its junction with the Missouri. The official map 
of the Engineer Department is of little use to the traveler in the Mus- 
cleshell country; the river being placed wrong on the map, trails and 
small streams out of place. Besting one day at the great bend of the 
Muscleshell, I sent the guides forward to look for water in the direction 
of our starting at the stockade on the Yellowstone. The reports being- 
favorable, as there were pools remaining from the heavy rain of ten days 
previous, on the morning of the 27th we left the Muscleshell, moving 
due east, which course was continued next day. Since leaving Poni- 
pey's Pillar we had passed over a country almost destitute of grass. 
The Muscleshell Valley is fertile, and, uninhabited by game, would 
furnish good grazing; but our march had been preceded by thousands 
of buffaloes, and the grass was completely exhausted. I decided to 
send Lieut. Col. Custer, with six companies of cavalry, in charge of 
the surveying party, by the direct route to the stockade, while I 
took the train and main force by way of the Yellowstone Valley to 
try and recruit our exhausted animals. Colonel Custer made the marches 
in five days of 22, 22, 25, 35, and 10 miles. He will furnish a map 
and report. From the point of separation with Custer's command, 
which is on the middle branch of the Great Porcupine, three hard days 1 
marching brought the train to the Yellowstone, at the mouth of the Lit- 
tle Porcupine. This route from the Muscleshell River to the Yellow- 
stone was the most trying to our stock of any part of our route for the 
summer. This soil is light and sandy, producing nothing but cactus and 
stunted weeds; no springs of any capacity exist; the Porcupine Creeks 
are only great water-drains after rain-falls, and, but for the timely rain 
preceding our march, it would have been ruinous to try to pass the 
route with our jaded stock. The inarch down the Yellowstone was made 
by easy journeys to benefit the stock; and in passing the Bad Lands we 



8 YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873. 

improved and straightened the trail of our outward march, arriving on 
the Yellowstone opposite the stockade on the 9th of September. The 
steamer Josephine arrived the same day, and the four succeeding days 
were employed in ferrying over the command, and preparing for the 
homeward march. As the engineers had additional work in the Bad 
Lands of the Little Missouri, Lieut. Col. Custer, with six companies 
of the Seventh Cavalry, was crossed on the 10th, and left the morn- 
ing of the 11th, escorting the engineers. The surplus commissary 
stores, amounting to eighty tons, mostly flour, hard bread, and bacon, 
were loaded on the Josephine, which also took the battalions of the 
Eighth and Ninth Infantry and Captain Powell's company of the Sixth 
Infantry. I had recommended this in my dispatch of the 19th of August, 
and when I was on the Yellowstone no one doubted the propriety of 
sending the troops by boat. Captain Marsh, the master of the steam- 
boat, assured me he had one foot more water than when he ran the Key 
West up the Yellowstone last May. The officers were all pleased with 
the arrangement, but as the Josephine is, at date of this writing, un- 
heard of, her fate is a matter of very great anxiety to me. 

The command left the Yellowstone on the morning of tlie 11th of Sep- 
tember, and inarched to this place in nine days, averaging twenty -three 
miles daily. The number of days the expedition was out is 95 ; the num- 
ber of camps made is 77 ; in six instances we only shifted camp for grass, 
making the number of camps at the end of a march, 71. The total esti- 
mated distance is 935 miles; the average daily march, 13| miles. 
Odometer measurements were taken ; but as the instrument frequently 
was out of order, its record is not reliable. The above estimate is the 
lowest, and the real distance will probably exceed this one. Twelve 
wagons were abandoned for want of teams ; these were old ones, and 
had been condemned at Fort Abercrombie. From eighty to ninety mules 
were killed or abandoned, having given out completely, mostly on that 
part of the march from Pompey's Pillar to the Muscleshell Eiver, and 
thence back to the Yellowstone. 

As accuracy should be aimed at in making up a general Government 
map, I will submit as soon as possible a copy of the railroad-survey, 
with additions where the wagon-road and survey diverge. 

In a supplementary report I will try to convey to the department 
commander my impressions of the country passed over ; also, such re- 
marks upon the staff departments as I deem appropriate or useful. 

In conclusion, I desire to express my satisfaction with the conduct and 
efficiency of the troops I have had the honor to command upon this 
expedition. 

I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

1). S. STANLEY, 
Colonel Ticenty-second Infantry, Commanding. 

Maj. O. D. Greene, 

Assistant Adjutant- General Department of Dakota, 

Saint Paul, Minn. 



Headquarters Fort Sully, Dak., 

October 12, 1873. 



Sir : In connection with my report upon the Yellowstone expedition 
last summer, I desire to submit, first, description of the country passed 



of last summer 
over. 



YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF lb73. 9 

The country west of the Missouri, and bounded north by Knife 
River and south by the Cannon Ball, is quite uniform in character, and 
can best be described as first-class grazing-lands. The line limiting 
this grass country westward would be a north and south line, about 
seventy-five miles west of the Missouri River. 

Throughout this area of country the soil is generally a black loam 
12 to 16 inches in depth, which appears to hold moisture well, and the 
grasses are luxuriant and rich. The two seasons 1 have had experience 
of the country have been seasons of abundant rains, and if such be the 
conditions throughout a series of years, I am confident this will be a 
country very productive of wheat and small grains. 

Timber is very scarce and confined to the streams, but outcroppings 
of coal are found on all the streams, and the fuel question will be one 
of the least difficulties the settlers will encounter. 

For a prairie country it is well watered; the small streams, though 
ceasing to flow in the dry season of fall, abound in holes well tilU'd with 
living springs of good, sweet water. 

Limestone is found on Heart River, but apparently only in the drift- 
deposits, and sandstone is found throughout, but is friable and soft, 
and of doubtful utility for masonry. 

Only the hostility of the Sioux and the yearly prairie-fires prevent 
this country soon settling up with a successful population of pioneers. 
The face of the country is gently rolling, with occasional buttes from 50 
to 300 feet in height, and abrupt breaks down into the valleys of the 
larger streams. 

Leaving this fertile belt, passing westward, we find a belt of thin soil 
and short grass from thirty to fifty miles wide, extending to the divide 
between the streams running to the Missouri and the Little Missouri. 
This country has a sandy soil, the ridges and buttes taking the "bad- 
lauds" character of bare clay, with perpendicular walls, ridged and 
guttered by the action of water. This belt still abounds in springs, 
and coal is found exposed by the washing of all the streams. The divide 
before mentioned is a very sharp backbone, and the descent to the 
Little Missouri is very abrupt, and can be made by wagon-trains only 
by following the valleys and beds of the streams running in from the 
east. 

This valley of the Little Missouri is the country of the Bad Lauds, 
and the pencil of the artist, even, must fail to give any idea of the ex- 
tremely rugged and wild nature of the scenery. The hills are in the main 
bare, and mostly made up of clay, but the top, and in some cases the 
entire mass, of the usually conical hills which make up the Bad Lands 
is composed of a red shale, as deep iu color as the best-burned brick. 
This gives a very variegated scenery, as the colors vary from a pale gray to 
a brick-red. These hills, which are piled together most promiscuously, 
apparently without system, are almost all some form of the cone, and 
yet there is no evidence of volcanic action. Could the burning-out of 
the great coal-beds underneath the clay account for the brickish appear- 
ance of the loose stones composing these red hills ? 

The Little Missouri, 150 miles from Fort Rice, has a bed 200 feet wide, 
and during the spring and early summer is usually from two to three 
feet deep. The bed of this stream is of the worst kind of quicksand. 
Timber is abundant; cotton-wood on the river; ash, oak, and box-elder 
on the small tributaries. Twenty miles south from the crossing, at the 
mouth of Davis Creek, pine of good quality becomes quite abundant. 
The valley of the Little Missouri varies from one mile to a quarter of a 
mile in width, and affords excellent pasturage; the hills contain sand- 



10 YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF JS7:?. 

stone rock, apparently fitted for building-. All the water-drains running 
into tbe Little Missouri expose coal-beds, some' of which were found 12 
feet in thickness. The coal appears to be fully equal to the Iowa coal 
in quality, and it was found by trial that it is excellent fuel. The road 
westward from the Little Missouri follows tbe bed of a small stream, and 
the first ten miles lead over a very rugged and difficult country. The 
road passes a few miles north of the " Buttes which look at each other," 
(Sentinel Buttes on the map,) hills of some 350 feet elevation above the 
surrounding country, having flat tables of land on top, containing each 
several hundred acres. These buttes are five miles apart, and are by 
far the most prominent landmarks in all this region ; they can be seen,, 
and, in turn, overlook the country, for a hundred miles toward all points 
of the compass. Tbe country, from the Little Missouri to Beaver Creek. 
35 miles, has a thin soil and indifferent grass, with a good deal of bar- 
ren, cactus-bearing surface. Water occurs in springs at easy distances. 
Beaver Creek has permanent water, not running in dry seasons ; the 
hills are low, which bound tbe valley from one-half mile to a mile in 
width. Timber is very scarce ; water and grass, good. 

From Beaver Creek to the Yellowstone tbe country is poor, abound- 
ing in cactus. 

The wagon-road follows tbe divide betweeu Gleudive's and Cedar 
Creeks, both of which cut deep valleys, tbe descents into which are very 
precipitous. Cedar Creek is distinguished from all other tributaries of 
tbe Yellowstone by its large brakes of scrub-cedar, which continue from 
its head-branches to its mouth. Many of these brakes are several thou- 
sand acres in extent, and from the wagon-road cedar-forests are always 
in sight. 

Tbe road from Beaver Creek to the Yellowstone is a good one, and 
good spring-water can be found near the head of Cllendive's Creek. 

The Yellowstone is certainly, viewed alone as a river, without taking 
in the rugged and poor country adjacent, one of the most beautiful 
rivers in tbe world. 

During July and August the river was quite full, and averages over 
1,000 feet in width, with over 4 feet of water on the bars. The average 
current has a rate of six miles an hour, and from some reason appears 
to the eye more swift than that rate would indicate. 

The water was, in July and August, quite clear, and was universally 
pronounced the finest drinking-water in the world. There is something 
peculiarly light about Yellowstone water, which permits a thirsty person 
to drink huge draughts with impunity. I believe that from its numer- 
ous falls and rapids, its swift current, and constant agitation by its 
pebbly bed, the water of the Yellowstone is aerated to a degree no other 
water is. Coming from perpetual snow may be another element in 
making up its excellence. 

The valley of the Yellowstone is, upon an average, about two miles 
in width, and the hills bounding the valley average 300 feet in height. 

Where the river cuts the face of these hills, they are perpendicular 
walls ; where tbe hills rise from the valleys, they are usually well- 
rounded, smooth hills. The poorest portion of the Yellowstone Valley 
lies between the mouth of Glendive's Creek and Powder River. The 
soil of the valley for this distance of fifty miles is thin and sandy, and 
the timber on the river occurs in small clumps, and is too small for 
building purposes. The Bad Lands which comedown to the bluff on the 
Yellowstone, opposite the mouth of Powder River, compel a detour to 
the north to regain tbe valley of the Yellowstone in going up the river. 

By keeping back fifteen or twenty miles from tbe river we found a 



YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873. 11 

tolerable road. The country is poor and water is only found in pools 
after rain. 

It is in this region that coal was found most abundant. One cut bluff 
of coal was observed eight miles above Powder River, which measured 
1C feet on the exposed face, and its horizontal area seemed immense. 
This coal is, from all appearances, equal to the block-coal of Indiana. 

The valley of the Yellowstone becomes much richer above Powder 
River ; the grass is rank and of the finest varieties. Timber does not 
become abundant until we reach the mouth of Tongue River, from which 
point heavy bodies of timber (cotton-wood) continually line the^river on 
one side or the other all the way to Pompey's Pillar. 

The cotton-wood is more abundant and is of a better quality than in 
any part of the Missouri Valley from Sioux City to Fort Benton. Pine 
of the scrubby variety is found in small quantities near the mouth of 
Powder River and Tongue River. 

At the mouth of Rose Bud, pine increases in quantity and quality, 
and continues to improve as we pass up the river. The pine is sound 
and large enough for all building-purposes, but will not, I thiuk cut into 
clear pine lumber. Abundance of pine will be found on this part of the 
Yellowstone for all railroad and building purposes. Some portions of 
the course of the Yellowstone have valleys on each side of the river, 
but usually a valley on one side is mated by a bluff on the other. There 
is a valley fifteen miles long and two miles wide, reaching above and 
below the mouth of Tongue River, on the same side as that river. 

Just above Tongue River a valley, twelve miles long and two miles 
wide, occurs on the opposite side from Tongue River, and another valley, 
fifteen miles long and two in width, occurs opposite the mouth of Rose 
Bud River. These large valleys have wood in abundance, good grass 
on the lower bench, and generally rank sage-brush in the higher parts 
of the valley. 

If the Mormon theory be true "that anything will grow where the 
sage grows, provided the ground can be irrigated," these valleys will 
some day be very productive, as it will not be a difficult thing to irri- 
gate any portion of the Yellowstone Valley from the river itself. The 
"bad-lands" character of the hills of the Yellowstoue disappears at the 
Tattle Porcupine. The hills from this point to Pompey's Pillar are not 
so high, and clay bluffs are replaced by sandstone of a hard variety. 
No limestone has been found on the Yellowstone. The hills now become 
covered with pine and the scenery much more pleasing. The road is 
alternately in the valley or on a high ridge, where we leave the valley 
at the points the bluffs run to the river. 

The water-drains running into the Yellowstoue on the north are short, 
very numerous, and for the most part only rain-water drains. Mayna 
dier's and Custer's Creeks have abundance of living water, but the two 
Porcupines, the largest tributaries on the north of the river, are only 
great rain-drains. Rising close to the Muscleshell River, and draining 
a vast country, descending rapidly to the Yellowstone, these Porcupine 
Creeks are at times torrents of great volume. The excess of bluffs is 
on the north side of the river, the side we marched up. We had to 
ascend the bluffs thirteen times from Glendive to Pompey's Pillar, and 
the whole distance a railroad would have to make bluff-cuttings would 
amount to nearly forty miles. 

On the south side of the river the bluff-cuttings would not exceed ten 
miles, and as this side receives the five rivers — Powder River, Tongue 
River, Rose Bud, Emmel's Creek, and Big Horn — whatever interest 



12 YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF I&73. 

attaches to this country as the future territory of a civilized community 
belongs south of the Yellowstone. 

The Tongue River Valley, where it joins the Yellowstone, is as large 
and as well timbered as the Yellowstone Valley. The view of the junc- 
tion of the Big Horn and Yellowstone is really magnificent. The two 
rivers can be seen for a great distance before their junction, and the 
combination of water, timbered valleys, rich prairie-bottom, rugged 
rocky bluffs, and pine-clad mountains gives a pleasing sensation not to 
be forgotten by the fortunate sight-seer. From Big Horn River to 
Pompey's Pillar — thirty miles — the road is on the bluffs. Pompey's 
Pillar is a knoll on the south side of the Yellowstone, separated by the 
action of water from the rocky bluffs on the north side ; it is 150 feet in 
height, and presents a perpendicular face to the river. The top has a 
grass sod, one acre in extent, and in fact the kuoll looks like anything 
but a " pillar." 

On the south of the river, a broad valley extends for fifteen or twenty 
miles; the river becomes more narrow, but is deep, and runs in a swift 
current of clear water. We here caught fine specimens of the trout, 
differing from the mountain-trout only in the speckle being black instead 
of red. Fine fish were caught everywhere in the Yellowstone, mostly 
catfish of the finest kind, and a whitefish in shape and appearance like 
the lake whitefish, and equally good for the table. From the Yellow- 
stone the direction of the Muscleshell River was west of northwest; 
the distance sixty miles. 

This is a barren, cactus country. Pine and cedar are found in all the 
w r ater-drains and hill-sides. At forty miles from the Yellowstone, we 
encountered the divide between the Yellowstone and the Muscleshell 
in a perpendicular rocky wall 300 feet high. We here struck Major 
Baker's trail of last year, and his guides had found the only place this 
bluff was accessible for many miles. Having ascended this height, we 
found an extensive table-laud twelve miles across, where it again breaks 
down as suddenly to the Muscleshell River. We here gained the 
highest altitude reached during the summer, the barometer indicating 
4,500 feet above the sea. We found thousands of buffalo on this plain, 
but they are dependent upon the rain-water lakes, which are here quite 
extensive. For several days' march before reaching Pompey's Pillar, 
and on the march over to the Muscleshell, the Snow Mountains, show- 
ing perpetual snow, are constantly in sight to the west, and the Little 
Belt and Judith Mountains can be plainly seen to the northward. 

The Muscleshell River has a bed about 150 feet in width, and was 
at the time we were on it a bold stream, 50 feet wide and one foot deep. 
The valley will average three-fourths of a mile in width, and is for the 
most part heavily wooded with cotton-wood. The hills on both sides of 
the valley are abrupt, and in many places are sharp cliffs of sand- 
stone of firm, good variety. From the Swimming Woman's Fork down 
to the Big Bend, pine is abundant on the hills, but is ouly fitted for 
framing and railroad-ties. 

The valley is rich and easy to irrigate, and but for the buffalo, which 
had stripped the valley bare, we would have found good grass. 

If this valley were protected, it would soon form the nucleus of a 
prosperous settlement. 

The water of the Muscleshell is excellent, and has the peculiarity of 
having decided diuretic qualities, which may be a matter of interest to 
the doctors. The course of the river for 75 miles traveled by us is 
nearly east and west; it receives many tributaries from the north and 
south, but none of them are running streams during the dry season. 



YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 187:3. 13 

At the Big Bend the river takes a due north course, which it keeps to 
the Missouri. 

From the Big Bend we took a due east course, crossing to the 
Yellowstone side of the divide the second day's march. From the 
middle branch of the Big Porcupine, General Custer marched due east 
to the stockade near Glendive ; the main column kept between the two 
Porcupines to the Yellowstone at the mouth of the Little Porcupine. 

This region between the Yellowstone and the Muscleshell is the 
most desert-like country we passed over during the summer. The soil 
is sandy, and produces little but stunted cactus and sage, with some 
weeds of unknown but noxious species. The Porcupine Creeks have a 
course east of southeast, and not a south course, as laid down on the 
official maps. Each of these creeks is fringed with cotton-wood groves, 
and the hills near the junction of the creeks with the Yellowstone have 
considerable pine. 

Coal. — The entire country passed over last summer is a coal-region ; 
no special search was made for coal, but only a few days passed that 
outcroppings were not observed. Near the Missouri the coal is lignite, 
but hardens and improves in weight and quality as we go west. 

Immense beds are found on the Little Missouri, but the Yellowstone 
Valley excels in the great thickness of its coal-beds aud the quality of 
its coal, which, I think, is fully equal to Indiana block-coal. 

Gold. — Some practical miners employed in the quartermaster's train 
frequently panned for gold, aud on several occasions found decided traces 
of gold from the washings of sand from the small eddies of the Yellow- 
stone above the mouth of Big Horn. 

Navigation. — Last summer's experience very fairly proved that the 
Yellowstone is equally as well fitted for navigation as the Missouri above 
Fort Buford. Captain Marsh's boat, the Josephine, ascended Wolf 
Rapids without taking out a line. This rapid is the most difficult one 
on the Yellowstone, and the Josephine could have undoubtedly prose- 
cuted her voyage successfully to the Crow agency, aud, perhaps, to the 
falls of the Yellowstone. Rapids occur in many places on the Yellow- 
stone, usually from the disturbance of the very swift current by a ledge 
of rock usually broken into fragments. 

At the Wolf Bapids, six miles below the mouth of Powder River, and 
the main Buffalo Rapids, fourteen miles below the mouth of Tongue 
River, there is a fall of 4 feet in 250 yards, with a rough rocky bed. 

The main Buffalo Rapid is no worse than the Wolf Rapid, and the 
Josephine will run over it without any difficulty at moderately high 
water. These rapids have the peculiarity of having deep water, and 
any steamboat that can stem the current of the Yellowstone can pass 
them by warping. 

The Buffalo Rapids extend from the mouth of Sunday Creek down 
the Yellowstone for six miles ; only the main one mentioned above pre- 
sents an}- obstacle to navigation, and a i'ew weeks' work with a steam- 
boat, furnished with proper appliances, would clear the channel at the 
Wolf and Buffalo Rapids, and open navigation upon at least six hun- 
dred miles of the Yellowstone River. During June, July, and August, 
this navigation is as secure as that of the Upper Missouri without any 
improvement. 

As to the future prospects of this Yellowstone country, the valley is 
surely as well adapted to tillage as the Rio Grande Valley, but, as in 
the Rio Grande Valley, irrigation alone could be depended upon. The 
abundance of coal answers the question as to fuel. 

The tributaries, Powder River, Tongue River, &c., are noted for their 



14 YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1373. 

unexcelled grazing-ranges, and also the excellence 'of their pine-timber. 
All evidence goes to show the existence of gold upon all the mountain- 
streams, and it only needs the suppression of the murderous Sioux to 
soon settle this country with a prosperous community, whose commerce 
must be carried on by steamboat on the Yellowstone or by a railroad in 
the Yellowstone Valley. 

Military posts. — From what I have heretofore said of the poor nature 
of the Yellowstone Valley between Glendive's Creek and Powder River, 
I could not recommend the establishment of a military post upon this 
part of the Yellowstone. A post located upon this stretch of the river, 
and, indeed, up to the mouth of Tongue River, would be difficult to build 
and keep up, from the scarcity of timber and the scarcity of grass either 
for grazing or hay. 

Tongue River struck me as decidedly a good spot for a post. There is 
an area of at least sixty square miles of valley-land visible from the 
bluffs opposite the mouth of Tongue River. Cotton-wood timber of the 
best kind is practicably inexhaustible. The valley of Tongue River is 
as large and as well timbered as the Yellowstone Valley, and hay suf- 
ficient can be cut at no great distance. 

The Buffalo Rapids are 14 miles below this point; but if these rapids 
prove troublesome for steamboats in low water, a good wagon-road can 
be made down the valley to a landing below the rapids. 

Another excellent position for a military post would be on either side 
of the Yellowstone, near the mouths of Great Porcupine or Emmel's 
Creek, which come in almost directly opposite each other upon the 
Yellowstone. If desired to put the post north of the Yellowstone, old Fort 
Alexander is a good site, ten or twelve miles above Tongue River. 

An equally good site will be found in the large valley fifteen miles in 
length opposite the mouth of Rose-Bud River. 

A military post at any one of these points would be practically right 
in the very heart of the hostile Sioux country. Ever since I have been 
in this department, the hostile Sioux have made their home upon the 
Rose Bud, Tongue River, or Powder River, and within a few days' 
march of the several points I have recommended for a military post. 
The Yellowstone is now the southern limit of the buffalo range in the 
Sioux country, and a strong post of infantry and cavalry mixed, with a 
good steam ferry-boat, (indispensable,) will overawe or destroy the hos- 
tile Sioux. Until the Sioux are quelled, ncthiug can be done to even 
test the capabilities of the country when it is settled. I have great 
hopes of the future of the Yellowstone and its tributaries. 

Game. — Game was quite abundant upon the entire route ; antelopes 
very abundant in July and August, but were found to have died by 
thousands as we returned in September. The carcasses were found 
every hour from the Little Missouri all the way to Fort Lincoln. I 
since learn that this dyingoff of this beautiful and useful animal extends 
over the vast country between the Missouri and Platte. I can account 
for it only as a universal murrain. The oldest voyageurs have never 
known of such a thing before ; but Clement, the guide, says he once 
saw a murrain sweep off the buffalo. Elks and black-tailed deer were 
found on all the streams. Big-horn were killed on the Yellowstone fre- 
quently. Bear-sign was abundant, and three grizzleys were killed on 
the Big Porcupine. 

Buffaloes were first found at Pompey's Pillar, the Indians having 
driven the herds off the Yellowstone. 

On the divide between the Yellowstone and Muscleshell, and upon the 
latter stream, buffaloes were abundant and had exhausted the grass, 



YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873. 15 

muck to our cost in the loss of mules. The sharp-tailed grouse is found 
on all our route, and after passing the Little Missouri the sage-hen is 
abundant on the Yellowstone and Muscleshell, and is excellent game. 
I have never eaten any with the sage-flavor attributed to this bird, 
probably because I have never killed them very late in the fall. 

Upon the Yellowstone and the Muscleshell enterprising fishermen 
were well rewarded and helped our short rations with wholesome fish. 

THE QUARTERMASTER'S DEPARTMENT. 

The service of this department was in the main good, with some 
exceptions. The train was gotten up in a hurry, and a great many of 
the mules purchased for the expedition were three and four year olds. 
The hard service, the light forage, and, more than all, the destitution of 
grass between the Yellowstone and Muscleshell River, proved fatal to 
many of these young mules. Xo mule should be purchased for the 
Quartermaster's Department youngerthau six years. The life was pulled 
out of these young mules on' the muddy roads the first twenty days of 
the expedition. 

On account of the rainy season, common to this region in June, I 
doubt if any expedition can start on the plains profitably, from the Mis- 
souri Kiver, before the first of July. 

The seasoned mules from Fort Abercrombie and the military posts of 
the department nulled loads averaging 5,200 pounds to the six-mule 
team, and came back in good order. 

The new wagons purchased in .Philadelphia are excellent. 

The teamsters for the supply-train were picked up without any care. 
Men who had never driven a "cart were hired to drive a six-mule team. 
This led to a great deal of trouble and damage, as these worthless men 
killed mules by their want of experience and their careless habits. 

Good wagon-masters should be selected and sent to such places as 
Omaha ami Leavenworth and allowed to select their own men from the 
old drivers, who can always be found at these large depots. The oats 
sent to the depot on the Yellowstone was invoiced at 168 pounds to the 
.sack, but by trial only averaged 130 pounds to the sack. This great 
discrepancy cannot be accounted for by wastage in handling. The great 
deficiency was only found out upon the march, and greatly reduced our 
five pounds to the animal. Forage for such an expedition should never 
be put up heavier than 100 pounds to the sack. 

The tentage for men and officers was of the worst quality, and in the 
rainy season there was little choice between a tent and outside of it. If 
the "shelter-tent could be supplied, made of good duck, I should still 
preterit for the enlisted men. 

The fatigue-hat, new uniform, lasts in the field about three weeks; it 
then becomes the most useless, uncouth rag ever put upon a man's head. 
The cable screwed shoes proved a success and lasted better than any 
shoe I have seen. 

THE COMMISSARY DEPARTMENT. 

The expedition was well served in this department ; indeed, we were 
rather embarrassed with overabundance. We took along and used one- 
third flour for the men's rations, the department having supplied Dutch 
ovens for baking. After the expedition had partly broken up, I sent 
around circulars to collect the opinions of the company-commanders 
upon the question of a part flour for field-service ration. 



16 YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873. 

Only a small number of company-commanders responded, and the 
opinions are generally adverse. 

1 still believe that tbe health and good feeling of the men will be 
promoted on all occasions of service in the field by making at least one- 
third of the ration flour, and that baking-powders should be supplied 
by the Commissary Department, as the savings on caudles and vinegar — 
the only articles savings could be made on — will not pay for tbe yeast- 
powder. The opinion of officers upon the insufficiency of the hard-bread 
ration is unanimous. A trip of a thousand miles over the plains, in 
this high latitude, will convince any man living that one pound is not 
enough to keep off the gnawings of hunger. 

The soldier's food upon the plains is his bread and meat. Very often 
he has no time to properly cook his beans, and his bread is his main 
stay. I send appended a petition, signed, I think, by every officer on 
the expedition, asking for an increase of the hard- bread ration for troops 
serving in the field. The beef was averaged at too high a weight upon 
being received at Fort Rice. The cattle continually improved up to the 
time we reached Pompey's Pillar, but at no time would they average up 
to the weight they were received at. Large cattle should never be started 
on such expeditions, as they very soon become foot-sore. Coffee and 
rice should be double-sacked ; ours was not, and led to waste. Hard- 
bread boxes should invariably be hooped with four iron bands, equi- 
distant upon the box instead of hooping only the ends of the boxes. 
This would save much now wasted in hard bread. 

All canned articles should have boxes iron-hooped. Lard should be 
put up in quart-cans of the best kind ; in the gallon-cans there is great 
waste. 

I had a hard-working, pains-taking commissary, Second Lieut. P. H. 
Ray, Eighth Infantry, who kept his department in good order. 

IN THE ORDNANCE DEPARTMENT 

matters were generally satisfactory. Our shell for the three-inch guns 
would not explode. Upon experiment, only four out of thirty bursted. 
This was to be regretted, as we had some good chances to burst shell 
in groups of defiant Sioux. 

I did not require the men to carry their knapsacks. They were packed 
with the men's clothing and hauled in the wagons. This is no test of 
the quality of the knapsack. I do not think the American soldier will 
ever be trained to carry the amount of gearing comprised in any one of 
the patterns of equipments I have yet seen. 

The men all carried their ammunition in their waist belts, with thim- 
bles for the cartridges. They made the belts themselves. 

THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT. 

There was a marked improvement over last year in this department. 
We were reasonably supplied with ambulances, and the number of old, 
worthless, broken-down soldiers in proportion was less than last year. 

The Eighth, Seventeenth, and Twenty-second Iufautry showed the 
good effects of campaigning in getting rid of their dead weights, and 
gave the surgeon very few calls. 

There is no opportunity in the field to make a hospital-fund. This is 
wrong, and works a hardship upon the sick, who really need improved 
diet and delicacies in the hospital in the field. 

I merely call attention to this without suggesting a remedy. We had 



YELLOWSTONE EXPEDITION OF 1873. 17 

a case of a wounded officer — thigh-bone broken in the upper third — 
whom we carried four' hundred miles upon a litter made by connecting 
the front and rear axles of an old spring-wagon by lodge-poles sixteen 
feet long, and swinging a stretcher-bed from and underneath the poles. 
This is the easiest conveyance I have ever seen for a wounded man. I 
recommend the invention to the Medical Department. 

In conclusion, I desire to express my satisfaction with all the officers, 
stall' and line, I had the honor to command ; and to speak well, of the 
rank and file fordoing hard marching and hard labor upon the expedi- 
tion with alacrity and cheerfulness. 

It will require several weeks to complete a map of the route, which 
will be submitted as soon as possible. 

Very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

D. S. STANLEY, 
Colonel Twenty-second Infantry, Commanding. 
The Assistant Adjutant-General, 

Department of Dakota. Saint Paid, Minn. 

War Department, 
Adjutant General's Office, 

Washington, April 16, 1874. 
Official copv : 

E. D. TOWNSEND, 

Adjutant- General. 

2 YE 



